I finish writing my name on the paper and grimace.

"Jacque..." Léonne whispers in my ears. I immediately recompose my face.

Damned Rakontagne, damned dragons.

We leave the table and walk back to the raised dais. We sit in our chairs, the comfortable white Prowler fur never felt more uncomfortable.

I squeeze Léonne's hand, her stern face changes into a warm smile for a second. Her gaze turns sharp and returns to observe the proceedings.

I'm such a terrible Chief, I can barely keep my composure at this situation. I don't command nearly the same respect as Léonne does, I'm too soft.

A few minutes passes and the other clan leaders also write their names. The line ends and all papers have been signed. Me and Léonne rise at the same time and approach the podium, we each grab one magic tool and put it close to our throat.

"Chiefs and Chieftresses, Warlords, Leaders, and Masters of Hunt!" Léonne opens the speech. "We are gathered here for the fulfillment of our treaty, one of our young will be chosen. The chosen one will receive the best training possible, we will make the young one grow to represent the finest warrior that the Misty Low Forest can create. The chosen will be sent to Rabanara to fight our enemies, to keep the dreaded dragons away from us, to bring honor and glory to our clan."

Sent as a slave, where is the glory in that?

I breathe in and open my mouth.

"As the treaty says, we will choose one among the children of our strongest, as only those who have shown true power are allowed to represent us. Only those who have the means to raise one of our finest should be allowed to participate. The family of the chosen will receive further glory and rewards to help them nurture our much esteemed representative."

We are selling our children for money.

A servant removes the folded papers from the table and put them inside a glass globe.

"Elder Monique, please, if would do the honor," I motion to one of the elders behind us, at the dais.

The lovable old woman raises from the chair with the help of her servant and makes her way towards the globe. The servant grabs a handle and starts spinning the globe, the papers mix in front of the eyes of everyone.

The servant stops and the elder moves her hand towards the opening of the globe. The Chiefs all tense, fox ears flicker about wildly, most show fear and anxiety, some show indifference, and only a few show excitement.

The elder picks up a paper and unfolds it.

"Jacque Vener!" She announces.

My heart stops and my world spins, my back turns cold and I have to use all my strength not to run and rip that piece of paper.

Léonne squeezes my hand and brings me back to reality.

Right, I need to keep my composure. I force my smile wider and me and Léonne hold our right ear with our hand.

"It is an honor to have our children be a chosen one," Léonne says.

"It is an honor to have our children be a chosen one," I repeat with the fakest smile I can muster.

Gods, why? Why Alissa?

Ofilia plays with the light of her [Spirit Light], she creates multiple colored butterflies made of light that she sends to fly all over the garden. Many of them fly into the mist and disappear, leaving only a handful to fly around us.

"Grab a stone and try to hit one," she says, her soothing voice makes me feel sleepy instead of alert. "If you hit one I will give you a reward."

Nenvieu hurriedly grabs a stone and throws, the stone swerves far from the target, causing Ofilia to laugh. Nenvieu reddens and his grey ears flop.

"Nen, you can't just grab any stone and throw, you have to put some thought into it, like this," I say.

I grab one pebble and weigh it. Perfect size, it will fly far.

I look around and find a red transparent butterfly that's flying in circles close to us. I lock my eyes to it and ready my arm, I lead my aim and throw.

The pebble darts to the sky and hits the butterfly, making it dissipate in smoke. The pebble continues on and disappears in the mist.

Ofilia claps her hands lightly and little Allura imitates with her cute toddler claps.

"Lis, hit!" Allura points with her chubby fingers while her small orange tail hits Ofilia's dress repeatedly.

"Okay, what do you want as a reward?" Ofilia asks.

Nenvieu hurries to me and whispers on my ears.

"I want you to kiss him," I point to Nen and Ofilia smiles, "on the lips."

She chuckles and her eyes turn reproachful but her smile on her lips tell the contrary.

"No," her tone is severe, "the reward is for you, not for him."

"My reward is seeing you kiss him."

"My, my. If you insist on this I will revoke your reward!"

The kind smile on Ofilia's face disappears as her white spotted ears flicker. She puts Allura on the mat and stands up.

"Master," she bows.

A second later a large shadow of a man with broad shoulders and fox ears forms on the mist. The shadow turns into a person and out of the mist comes dad. His face makes me anxious, he looks serious, dad never looks serious, that's mom's job.

"At ease. I'm only here for Alissa, I have to talk to her," his voice is calm and tired. Ofilia straightens and looks at me.

Did I do something wrong? My mind races about what I have done over these last days and I don't remember anything... Oh no, did Ofilia tell on dad about the Avaler that I killed? It was an accident! I swear! I didn't know it belonged to elder Vitus!

Suddenly I'm picked up with one hand, dad's round and fluffy red beard right on front of my eyes, he kisses my forehead and his beard tickles my face. Dad's claws tickle my sides and I have to squirm to escape his grip.

I hit my feet on his chest and push away from him, I escape his grasp and fall towards the ground. I change to my fox form and contort myself so I fall on my paws. I dash behind Ofilia and peek at Dad from behind her dress.

"Seriously, now. Alissa come with me," his tone leaves no room for question. He turns around and starts to walk. I follow him and look back, Ofilia is smiling and waving, Allura is imitating her, and Nen is pouting.

I use my claws to climb up to dad's shoulders.

"Don't do that, you will ruin my clothes, your mother hates when you do that," he says.

"I won't tell if you don't."

He flickers my snout and I nearly fall off.

"Oww..."

We make our way towards the house, mana crystals hanging on poles light the way through the mist. Dad reaches the porch and takes his shoes off. I lower to the ground and change back to humanoid, I take my shoes off and carry them inside.

"Pay attention to how you lower yourself, your sash is being undone with the wild way you move," Dad chastises me.

I purse my lips and press the sash of my dress tighter.

Why do we use such annoying clothes if they keep getting undone.

"If you can move around without the sash getting undone you are ready for hunting Prowlers," Dad says, reading my mind.

"Still stupid..." I whisper.

"Don't question until you understand it," he flickers my ear.

"Oww..." I rub the sensitive cartilage. He likes to hit the black tip, exactly where it's the most sensitive.

There are two female elders taking a sip of hot tea while sitting down on cushions. They smile towards me and it makes my ears redden. I purse my lips harder and try to take control over my heart, I won't let them see me look embarrassed.

We enter the house and the sounds of muffled steps on the wooden floor fill our ears. A few servants are still working on the evening, mostly the cooks and the maids preparing for dinner. The floor is beginning to get warm, the bath must be getting ready.

The Sworn Hunters are coming in, a few bring small monsters to help the cooks. A small maid with puffy red hair yells at a large grey hunter because he didn't bleed his prey before coming in.

"How did you not get eaten by a Prowler already is a wonder! You must have been stalked by every Buveursang on the forest with the bloody trail you left!" She smacks him in the shoulder because she can't reach his grey ears on top of his head.

"I'm sorry Louise, it took too long to find this deer, I would be too late for dinner if I took any longer."

"You oaf!" She hisses, showing her fangs and then huffs away, her hair bounces as she stomps on the floor.

"Montague is at it again," Dad whispers with a smile.

"Why did mom choose him?" I ask, "He's always so clumsy."

"Sometimes you just need a large muscle-brain to solve problems."

"Aren't you the one who mom calls when she needs muscle?" I give him a cheeky grin and turn back into fox, in this form I can easily dodge his huge furred red hand. My stamina needs a lot of work, I already start to feel the tiredness of being in this form.

My paw slips on the pristine and waxed floor and dad quickly nabs me by the nape.

"Enough," his voice turns gruff and I make my ears flop. It works and his expression softens. "Stop playing around, we have to talk."

"Okay..."

He lowers me into the ground and I turn back. My sash is getting undone again. Stupid clothes.

We cross the common grounds and reach our private quarters. The thick dark wood walls turn into light and thin movable walls with large paper panels. The first room is the office, dad slides open the panel and leads me inside. Mom is there in front of a low table, writing on some documents.

She lowers her magic tool pen and looks up from the documents. Her face relaxes from her usual sharpness, her large orange eyes stare right into mine and she gives me a smile. I reflexively smile back.

Dad motions to me and I sit on a cushion in front of Mom's low table, Dad sits besides her.

"Alissa, do you know remember the treaty we have with the empire in relation to Rakontagne?" Mom asks, her soft voice makes me relax.

"I remember Homvieun taught me that. He said that once every, uh, every 3 years we send a warrior to Rabanara to repre... Represent us and bring glory to our clan."

Dad's face twitch.

"That's right," Mom nods to my words," among all clans we choose one from where the next warrior is going to be chosen from, the next one was chosen a few days ago..."

Oh...

"And our clan was chosen, you will be sent to Rabanara when you are of age," Mom finishes.

Silence falls on the office. Their faces are neutral.

"And... Is that good?" I tentatively ask.

"What?" Dad blinks a few times blankly.

"Shouldn't we celebrate?" I lean forward and let my tail wag. "I'll be representing the Misty Foxes!"

Dad's face twitches again and mom smiles faintly.

"Yes you will, but this means you will have a very hard life ahead of you," she softly says to me. "You will be a slave, you won't be in charge of your own path."

"Isn't Ofilia a slave?"

"Yes, but she's lucky to belong to a good family. The family you will be sent to may not be like ours."

"I will endure it! I will make you proud, I will bring honor to our clan!" I stand up and hold one of my ears in respect.

Dad leans over to Mom.

"We gave her some horrible influence," he whispers.

Don't think you are the only one with good hearing.

"For her it's best that she remains like this" Mom whispers back.

She looks over to me and sighs.

"Very well, we will train you," she says. "I think my style is better, you are too big and muscular, I don't think she will grow to be like you."

"I agree, she's fast, much faster than Nenvieu," Dad says.

"Keep in mind that you won't be with us all the time, at some point you will live alone, away from this house," Mom says softly.

My heart pangs with pain. Al, Nen, Ofilia, I will have to leave you?

"I..." Tears start to well on my face, I sniffle and hold them back. I won't disappoint, I can't disappoint. "I will do it!"

Mom stares at me for a few moments and measures my resold. I hold on my expression and stare back.

"Tomorrow morning we will start," Mom says, "we will cut the morning lessons with Homvieun for a while."

Yes!

"Go to the bath, Ofilia should already be getting there," Dad says and waves his hand dismissively.

I bow to them and leave.

I hurry to the bath to tell Ofilia the news. I open the panel with a bang.

"Lis! Don't leave it open, I'm undressing!" She hisses at me.

I stop midway and turn around, my sash immediately unfastens, I just let my dress unfold and fall on the floor. Stupid clothes.

After closing the panel I run back to Ofilia, she's pouting while she folds my dress.

"Hey, Ofilia, listen. I'm going to be like you. Mom said I'm chosen to be sent to Rabanara."

She freezes and looks at me wide eyed. Her white furry ears flicker repeatedly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Her voice is faint.

"I'm going to be like you. Mom is going to train me to represent the Misty Foxes."

She frowns and turns around.

"Uh... What? You don't like it," I ask.

"No, this... You know what this means?" She turns back and her expression is neutral. I don't like it when people do that, her neutral expression is weird.

"Mom said I will be a slave, like you."

She smiles with sadness on her eyes and hugs me tight. My head gets buried on her long silky white hair.

"You... You will do fine. I know you will..." She whispers on my ears.

"I know!"

She chuckles and releases me. She leads me away and we wash each other. Her porcelain white skin is always unblemished, makes me envious. Mom comes into the bath too, she's brushing her orange tail.

"Master," Ofilia gives a light greeting bow.

"Ofilia, you can teach Alissa few things. A few levels in [Washing], [Cleaning], and [Housework] will do her good," Mom says.

"Yes, master."

"Oh, can she teach me [Cooking] too?" I ask.

"Louise will teach you that," Mother answers.

Louise is always grumpy, but I guess it's better than nothing.

Ofilia finishes washing me and turns to help wash mom. I enter the large stone bath and float around with my eyes closed.

"Can Ofilia teach me [Illusion Magic]?" I ask.

"I don't know much, just party tricks," she answers.

"Exactly!"

"No, you need combat skills, Ofilia doesn't know how to use [Illusion Magic] in combat."

"Awn..."

The rest of the bath is mom discussing how me and Allura behaved today. No mention of the Avaler. Stupid bird, only a weak, sheltered one would die with a single stone, it didn't even try to dodge!

We finish the bath and go have dinner. Dad is already feeding Allura her baby food. We sit down on the cushions and Ofilia fills my plate with food, I frown deeply at that.

"If you want to grow strong you have to eat it all," Mom says.

I gulp and cut the Stal wolf liver.

"A painless kill makes the prey taste better," I recite what Homvieun always tells me.

I put the fork on my mouth. UGH!

I bring a book to Dad and ask him to read it for me.

"'Radomir, the Ravager'?" He raises an eyebrow at me.

"She needs those books now more than ever," Mom answers.

I sleep on Dad's lap and dream of the Lionfolk conqueror. He takes what he wants and he took my heart.

Mom wakes me up. She squeezes my tail slowly, first it feels good, like a massage, then it starts to hurt and sting.

"Ow, ow! I'm awake!"

Groggily I sit up and look around, mom is using her [Spirit Light], the sun isn't even out yet!

"Where's dad?" I ask.

"He went to prepare the training grounds," her voice is stern, her face is neutral.

"And Allura?"

"With Ofilia, you would wake her up with your screaming."

"Sorry..."

She sighs and her sharp eyes soften.

"Let's go," she says softly.

We cross the common grounds and I see many Sworn Hunters getting ready to hunt.

"Didn't know they woke up so early," I say.

"You wake up too late, the Prowlers are less active during dawn."

We leave the house and go to the garden, the grass is wet with mist and I have to raise my dress not to dirty it.

I smell something foul on the garden, it makes me worried. What did Dad prepare for me?

On the corner of the garden dad is there holding something small and green. It squirms non-stop, trying to escape the ropes that tied it up.

"A goblin?"

"Yes. Your first task," Mom says, her voice is stern again.

I stop in front of the green ugly thing. He stands up, he's as tall as me, then he tries to tackle me, Dad sweeps his feet and he falls back down.

His ugly face turns to me and I see it scowl. His gag prevents him from talking but I know he has lots of very small and pointy teeth ready to take a bite at me.

I don't like this, I don't want to be here.

Dad throws a large dagger at my feet.

"This is your first task," he says, "get this dagger and slice the throat of the goblin.

My face pales. I never killed anything, not even Nen did. I never even held a dagger, Dad never let me. I look at mom and her face is neutral.

"You said you were going to do it, right?" She asks. "Show us what you mean by it, show us what it means to be a Misty Fox."

With a trembling hand I grab the dagger, it's heavy, so heavy. I look at the monster, it's squirming harder now that I have a weapon in hand, it's filthy ugly little dick swaying about. Why didn't father give him some pants? I feel sick.

I take a step forward and the goblin growls. I grit my teeth and take another step, it growls louder.

It's bound, it's harmless, it won't hurt me, I'm okay, I'm okay.

I have to kill it, I have to show it to dad. I killed before, right? The Avaler counts, right? Yes, I'm okay, it's fine.

The foul smell of goblin fills my nose as I slowly approach. Horrible, disgusting, I can only describe it as pee and poop with a dash of moldy old Sworn Hunter socks.

Dad holds him on the ground so he doesn't worm away. He holds the goblin's head still, exposing his neck to me.

"Do it," Mom tells me.

"Do it", I tell myself.

"You can do it," Dad tells me.

I can do it!

"RAAH!"

With both hands I push the dagger down, it slides in with little effort. The flesh separates and blood pours out. The goblin gargles and chokes on his own blood, his violent squirming reduces and he passes out.

I feel sick. There's blood in my hands, my dress, my shoes. So much blood.

"Good job, Alissa," Mother says.

"You did well," Father says. He casts [Clean] on my hands and takes the dagger away.

"You are now level 2," says the Goddess of Growth.

I retch.